Is allowing your child to play rugby or another impact sport illegal in England?

In this commentary, I provide a brief sceptical analysis of Anderson et al. (2023) claim that allowing your child to play rugby or another impact sport is ‘child abuse’ in the legal sense in the UK, i.e. a criminal offence. There are three steps: First, a discussion that problematises the concept of an ‘impact sport’; second, a clarification and refinement of the distinction between parental consent to harm and consent to a risk of harm; third, an examination of the legal question, focusing on the criminal offence of ‘Exposing a child to danger’.